Abuhab-baging

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Abuhab-baging

 STROPHANTHUS CUMINGII A. DC.

Strophanthus dichotomous DC. Var. luzoniensis Vidal

Strophanthus erectus Merr.

Local names: Abuhab-baging (Tag.); lanot (Ilk.); lasiu (Ibn.); sara-sara (Ilk.).

Abuhab-baging is an endemic species found in thickets and forest at low and medium altitudes in Cagayan, Abra, Ilocos Norte, la Union, Batangas, Rizal, Cavite, Bataan, Laguna, and Sorsogon Provinces in Luzon; and in Palawan, Leyte, Negros, and Mindanao.

This plant is a stout, smooth, woody vine which, when young, may be erect and shrublike. The leaves are elliptic-ovate, 8 to 15 centimeters long, and slightly pointed at the base, with a short pointed at the tip. The inflorescences are terminal, smooth, and few-flowered. The calyx lobes are slender and 7 to 9 millimeters long. The corolla is very characteristics. The tube is white and about 2 centimeters long with lobes, which are about 8 millimeters wide at the base and continue into long, slender, drooping tips. The lobes are about 1 centimeters long. The fruit is woody, oblong-ovoid, about 16 centimeters long, and 7 centimeters in diameter, and contains very numerous, elongated seeds, each of which terminates in very long projections with numerous, long hairs.

According to Brown the bark is employed in the Philippines as an effective arrow-poison. He states that the seeds have been examined by Dr. Joaquin Marañon, of the Institute of Science, who found that, like the seeds of other species of the genus Strophanthus, they contain the glucoside, strophanthin. Stropanthin is a digitalis glucoside and is used as a heart stimulant. It seems probable that strophanthin also occurs in the bark of Strophanthus cumungii, as the bark of various species of Strophanthus contain strophanthin, and the bark of strophanthus cumingii has been employed as an effective arrow-poison. Sulit also reports the use of this species as an arrow-poison.

Source: BPI